MACRO MONDAY - Deer Trough

Close up photos tend to be of beautiful blooms, buzzing bees, or both.  In fact next week I will share some just like that.  But this week for Macro Monday let us focus on something different. 

Something that while gorgeous, is facing some challenges. I am a firm believer that as bloggers and gardeners we should celebrate both the challenges as well as the success stories, so let us revisit the planter in my parents font yard.

It is very large and lovely and the scent of the petunias is very welcoming at the front door.

 But someone has been munching on both the Sweet Potato Vine and the Petunias.

 It is either a rabbit or a dear. There are plenty of rabbits.  Really, they are everywhere and I love them.  They may annoy me when I get my hands into my own garden again next year, but for now I still look at them and exclaim excitedly, "hey, another rabbit!" after all, I just moved from downtown Toronto where I did not see a rabbit in over a decade.  This is exciting stuff.

But take closer look.  Does it seem likely that a rabbit jumped up on this concrete planter and munched away?  It seems a little exposed to me and the rabbit would have to be very brave.  

My parents seemed certain that a deer had already trimmed back the sweet potato vine on the lawn side of the wall.  I was skeptical at first, after all there is a busy street not that far away.  While they did not see the deer eat it, they have watched deer munch on their neighbour's garden out their kitchen window for years

Check out the car in the background.  The road is 150 feet away and can be quite busy.  I guess this is what it means to have deer in the city.  We are certainly going to have them in our new garden, I can tell by the chicken wire around a few people's gardens and the abundance of dear in the nearby Assiniboine Park.

A new challenge certainly (even at the Ontario cottage I only had to worry about deer in the off-season), but one I am going to enjoy.
Mark my words.